Rating: 
Summary: didn't like this at all
Review: A dwarven wizard? ~not~ This edition of D&D really turns my stomach. I went out and bought ALL the new books, and checked them out,...Great artwork,...terrible changes (from 2nd) to a system that was simple, and easy for new people to get into and understand. The new "changes" were to strip all the restrictions of race and class from 2nd add. Restrictions that made sense, and gave balance to the game,...Now its like a big free for all! Why get rid of THAC0?!! It was fine!!! Sure,...all the big game review websites, and supposed "experts" are all giving this the thumbs up. Take it from a veteren gamer, and all my friends, and frankly, people I've spoken to at gaming and book stores,...they all think this new version stinks. And I have to agree,...so to sum it all up, nice art, nice packaging.
Rating: 
Summary: I'm new, and WOW!
Review: Well, I'm pretty new to D&D, as I've only been playing for about 6 months, and I bought the PH to introduce me to what I thought would be a cool game. Let me tell you; cool is an understatement. It has great pictures, every rule you need to at least run two adventures, and some cool class abilities. However until you play a few short adventures, all you will see on the pages is mumbo jumbo. For newbies that are looking into buying it, here is an example of what they write: "To roll an attack against an opponent, roll a d20. ad your strength bounus to the damage roll, and add your base attack bonus to the attack roll. If you roll a pure 20, then you are a threat. Roll a d20 again and if you get the defenders armor class or higher, you score a critical hit against them." To experienced players, this is an equivilent to 2+2, a basic D&D rule. To newbies, you'll be saying "what the heck is a d20?" while scratching your head. But have no worries, play a few adventures, and you'll be saying, "I wonder if a giant eagle would be a well balanced mount for my level 4 multiclassed rouge/bard/paladin?" and "I wonder if i should take the +4 holy vorpal long sword or +8 bracers of armor?" Overall its a good book, but not really friendly, you need the Dungeons and dragons adventure game for that.
Rating: 
Summary: The best version of the best Fantasy RPG, so far.
Review: I waited until I had played an ran game after game using this system before I wrote a review, but let it be known that I bought this book the day it came out. Why? It needed a new edition. I hated second edition. It was written by people in a horrible atmosphere. Granted, they weren't bad writers, but TSR was an atrocious company at the time. The President of TSR, at the time that 2nd Ed. came out, called gamers her "social inferiors." This is after Gary Gygax was kicked out of the company. If you remember, he co-founded it. The other guys left way before he did. He tried to stick it out, but the current owners won their legal fight against him. This is why 3E is the best edition.
Basic: Had no races, in effect. Each race WAS a class. It was very abstract and unrealistic, and I couldn't play a demihuman without wondering "why can't I be a halfling thief?" However it had a very simple system...with patterns, rather than tables...making it #2 in the D&D chain. The combat system was fun, but it drew out so long that, sometimes, the DM said..."ok, you guys win," without the battle actually being resolved.
1st Edition: It had a better feel, but it was WAY too restrictive. Character creation was crap. Player Characters Dwarves couldn't be clerics, though NPC Dwarven clerics reached levels that nearly equaled the fighter. Extra rules made combat even more cumbersome.
2nd Edition: Speed Factors? The only reason I played 2nd Edition was because all my friends did. It had the most complicated and "in the way" rules system of almost any RPG I've ever played in my life...beat only by Rolemaster(a horrible and insanely overrated system that consists of nearly nothing but reading tables)I couldn't wait til it was replaced.
3rd edition: Until this came out, I was a die-hard Basic fan, thinking it couldn't get better than that. When it did come out, though, I jumped for joy. The complicated part is in the right place and the simple part is in the right place. Character creation is more complex, allowing for more customization. You could actually have any class/race combination. Many people had made this a house rule anyway. Some people had to be guided, like newbies or really young players, but they always liked the fact that their character concept actually came up on paper (a near impossible in all the earlier editions, other than the part of the sheet that said "background.") However, in play, they when back to patterns. They used even simpler patterns than basic. For example, your ability scores grant more bonuses on even numbers. Initiative was simplified so that it only had to be rolled once. Higher was always better. You didn't have to figure. In combat, what you rolled was the AC you hit. You didn't have to check attack roll vs ac vs thaco. It honestly took us a couple of months to figure out how attacks of opportunity worked, but it turned "hack n slash" into "strategic battles." Also, I acknowledge that it seems more hack and slash oriented. It's not. All editions of D&D were hack n slash oriented...this just does it better, with AoPs and Feats. That's what fantasy players want...heroic battles. (though, i'm partial to straight rp, myself.) if you want straight rp, you can always turn to other (better, imho, anyway) systems, like deadlands, amber, alternity, vampire, call of cthulu (YES!) or Lejendary Adventures (Gary Gygax making up for the mistake called 1st edition). D&D, in it's core, has always been based on heroics and it always will be and no system has ever captured that like 3E D&D. Remember, D&D was based on The Lord of the Rings and now it finally feels like it. For other generic RP enthusiasts the d20 system now works for that, as well. It converts well, as long as you're running heroic games. If it's roleplay, stick with GURPS, Tri-Tac, or some of the free ones on the net (some are quite good.)
Rating:
Summary: All you need in 1 book.
Review: This is the Dungeons and Dragons 3rd Edition Players Handbook. The latest version of the game. It is also called the Core Rulebook I. This book tells you how to create and play your character. This is the only book required for the players. You will also need a special set of dice and paper/pencil, and in some campaigns, a figure to represent your character in the game. This book has everything you need to fleash out and equip your characters as well. A very nice table of contents. And is a well made hardcover book, If you plan to run a campaign you will need as a minimum everything listed above plus, The Dungeon Master's Guide and the Monster Manual.
Rating:
Summary: Okay, I'm officially a 3E fan
Review: It took a while. I bought the Player's Handbook the day it came out at Gen Con, back in 2000.My first opinion was that it waas worth the price just for the production value of the book. Every page is full-color and the illustrations are fabulous. This is some of the best art in the industry, and there's pages and pages of it! My next thought, after going through the book the first time, was concern that the material would be too complex to have wide appeal. Creating my first character took a couple hours - a really long time when compared to AD&D. There were so many things to consider - what skills and feats to give your character, and what is the right combination of abilities is most beneficial. The examples in the book are clear and plentiful. One small complaint with the book is that it doesn't really make mention of prestige classes. They added this to the Dungeon Master's Guide, but by the time that came out we already had our first group of adventurers developed. I (the DM) had to allow the party to make minor adjustments to their characters' stats so that they could get on track for the prestige classes they wanted. Another small complaint is that the book isn't indexed as well as it could be. I'm constantly failing to find a topic there. Overall, though, a really good product.
Rating:
Summary: Get it. It helps.
Review: This book is great for anyone who wants to get started in D&D.
Rating:
Summary: Wow
Review: After reading all the good and bad reviews of this book I finally decided to go out and get it myself, and I was glad I did. I have been playing 2nd edition for ten years and I'll be honest, this was a giant shock! The rules are overhauled and simplyfied, not just tweaked. I'm not really into the whole Mad Max type artwork but it's your game and you make your own imagination on what they look like. Overall, I think it's a great system and I don't know what all those people who gave it a lower rank were thinking. Give it a shot!
Rating:
Summary: More rules, More quality, the same fun
Review: This new version of the AD&D has come with a new vision of the rules and the D&D world. For the rules change, the reader can see that abilities like strenght and constitution can now improve and the autors have added the feat rules (like qualities or advantages for the character); the skills now have some use in game (before this version, skills were something patetic to read and use).
The reader will also find the usual huge list of magics at the end, new classes to play - the sorcerer is great! -, a full list of objects with their pictures (including armor and weapons - finally we can see how a plate armor or a chain mail looks like or the difference between a two-handed sword and a bastard sword...) and new races like the half-orcs.
The D&D world appears to be more agressive with much more magic, danger and versatility. And the art...
I have to say: the pictures and quality of the paper are fantastic; a paradise to eyes. A masterpiece of roleplay.
The book is great, but be aware: you will need the Monster Manual and the Dungeon Master's guide to play.
Rating:
Summary: Finally the rules are easy enough...
Review: The most important part of the book are the rules, they are easy to understand that let you or new players get into the adventure without the risk of get bored or confuse because of them (if you get bored is 97% because the adventure, not the rules).
The character classes are good (I would like wizards have more spells to use).
For those people who starts with role playing games or fantasy role playing games this is a must.
The art is Ok, but I thing more could be better.
Rating:
Summary: It's really good
Review: I'm an old time gamer... I still own the D&D Rules cyclopedia, so you can imagine how resilient I am to change. But, since i had this book in my hands, my game has totally changed. First, The game is now FAST, a combat can be resolved in less than 15 minutes. Not only the character creation and the rules are simplified, but the book itself is beatiful... I haven't seen this art since the D&D Gazeteers. Still, there are a few things that I don't like. For example, raising your abilities with level increase sounds "Munchkin" to me. So, I have personal problems with a few rules. That's the reason for not giving it the fifth star. As a Player and DM, I recommend this book as a MUST for every RPGamer.
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